Designing with Nature

Guests

Nicky Vancaudenberg (AgwA, Brussels), Karel Loontiens (Aardig Gedacht & Studio Loho, Bruges), Theresa Zschäbitz (Bauhaus Earth, Berlin)

Short summary

Architect Nicky Vancaudenberg (AgwA), contractor and designer Karel Loontiens (Aardig Gedacht & Studio Loho) and material researcher Theresa Zschäbitz (Bauhaus Earth) share first-hand stories on reuse, embodied energy and the importance of natural building materials, and what these mean for how architecture looks and feels.

Introduction

In this first episode, host Hülya Ertas (VAi) talks with Nicky Vancaudenberg, Karel Loontiens and Theresa Zschäbitz about what happens when architecture moves away from glossy, high-maintenance finishes toward materials that are reused, natural, or simply left exposed.

Vancaudenberg, partner at AgwA in Brussels — recently awarded the EU Mies Award for Chapex in Charleroi — describes how questioning a client's brief led the office to remove an entire building wing rather than replace it, and how that decision reshaped the way AgwA thinks about energy and construction. Loontiens, co-founder of Aardig Gedacht and Studio Loho, traces sixteen years of working with clay plasters and natural finishes, from a niche practice to something closer to a quality label. Zschäbitz, of the research institute Bauhaus Earth, brings in a project in Berlin that tests how much carbon a building can store in bio-based insulation, and recounts a telling mismatch between a traditional Belgian thatcher's instincts and a research team's ambition to build with local reed.

Material Shift

Season 1: New Aesthetics

#1: Designing with Nature

guest speakers: Nicky Vancaudenberg (AgwA), Karel Loontiens (Aardig Gedacht & Studio Loho) and Theresa Zschäbitz (Bauhaus Earth)

#2: New Material Languages - available from 10 November 2026

guest speakers: Summer Islam (Material Cultures), Corentin Dalon (Bento Architecture) and Emma van der Leest (Blue City Lab)

#3: Pioneering Practices - available from 15 December 2026

guest speakers: Lydia Kallipoliti (Columbia GSAPP), Julian Ramirez Araujo (Taller Material) and Diana Campbell (Samdani Art Foundation)

Colophon:

Host: Hülya Ertas

Language: English

Coordination: Hülya Ertas (VAi) and Farah Fervel (BC architects, studies and materials)

Production, recording and editing: Laurens Desmet, De Podcastmobiel

Project: ACCEL, Architects in Circular Construction Elevated Learning

With the support of: Erasmus+

In collaboration with: BC architects, studies and materials, Amàco (L'atelier matières à construire), the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), RWTH Aachen University and the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi).

Artwork: Ellen Bresseleers

Image credit: Paludi Malchin Summer School 2025, Malchin, explore the potential of wetland plants in regenerative construction, thatching Molinia & reed Photo by seeber.media - Florian Seeber

Season 2 expected in Spring 2027.

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